An attempt is made to share the truth regarding issues concerning Israel and her right to exist as a Jewish nation. This blog has expanded to present information about radical Islam and its potential impact upon Israel and the West. Yes, I do mix in a bit of opinion from time to time.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

“Crossing Lines”

Has our government finally learned? No matter what efforts we make,
no matter the concessions – in the end it is Israel that faces accusations when
things go wrong. The lesson here is that we should stop trying and refrain
from further concessions.

What I am referring to is the tone, as well as content, of testimony given
by Kerry yesterday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Tovah
Lazaroff, providing an analysis in the JPost, wrote:

“It wasn’t what Secretary of State John Kerry said...it was how he said
it....

“It was a narrative exclamation, and pause, strong
enough to be heard round the world.
“It fell, like a slow drumbeat...”
Kerry’s accusation: that an announcement by Israel about building over the
‘67 line is what killed the chance to revive the “peace negotiations”

Lazaroff describes the progression of events that Kerry presented. I
want to review it quickly here because Kerry’s misrepresentations require
correction. No one should take him at his word.

Israel - which had committed to the release of 106 pre-Oslo prisoners, in
four stages, in order to get the PA to the table for nine months – announced
towards the end of March that the final group of prisoners would not be released
as scheduled because of evidence that this painful (and, many would say,
horribly inappropriate) concession was not achieving its intended results.
The Palestinian Authority had stopped participating in direct negotiations –
there was only separate contact by each party with US negotiators. What is
more, there was solid evidence that once Abbas secured the release of that last
group of prisoners, he was intending to call a halt to “talks.” He had
been hanging in at a minimal level only to achieve the victory of the release of
terrorists.

Israel said that the final group of prisoners would be released only if the
PA committed to another nine months at the table after April 29th. A predictable
furor followed, with the PA saying that it was entitled to the final prisoner
release without having to make any further commitment.

At this point the US, seeking to salvage the process, intervened, and the
news was full of talk about Pollard possibly being let out of prison (to
“motivate” members of the Israeli government to agree to further concessions),
and Israel agreeing both to the release of that final group of prisoners plus
another 400 and, to boot, a partial freeze in construction in Judea and Samaria
(NOT including Jerusalem and exempting building for which tenders were already
out). All so the PA would stay at the table for another nine months.

Enough to give a nationalist Zionist a heart attack, even with the
tentative talk about Pollard’s release (a cruel manipulation). But from
the US perspective there should have been acknowledgement that Netanyahu was
really trying.

~~~~~~~~~~

Before this grand new deal could be finalized, Abbas announced that he had
signed applications for membership in 15 international organizations. This was
precisely what he was not supposed to do, as long as there were negotiations.
And this was the final blow. Kerry cancelled plans to fly to Ramallah to
finalize the expanded deal, the US announced that it was no longer considering
the release of Pollard, and Israel said all offers were off the table.

At the time this happened, I was astounded, that Abbas could very likely
have secured the release of some 420 prisoners, and yet opted to go a different
route instead. To me it was obvious that he was tired of the negotiations
charade and was prepared to move to the next step – one that was well planned
and bound to come sooner or later. Abbas blew it, willfully and
defiantly.

~~~~~~~~~~

At the same time all of this was transpiring, an announcement was made by
Israel regarding the construction of 700 new housing units in the Gilo
neighborhood of Jerusalem. The tenders for this construction had been put
out prior to this. It was not something new.

Kerry, however, has now chosen to point his finger at Israel, saying that
this announcement about construction is what destroyed the possibility of
salvaging the process.

This is how Lazaroff describes Kerry’s testimony (emphasis added):

“But while Kerry said the 15 applications were not
helpful, he didn’t pause in that part of the narrative, nor did he state that
this was the point of no return.
“He described matter-of-factly what happened after the
March 29 release was delayed as both sides tried to conclude a deal to keep the
talks going for another nine-months.
“’Unfortunately the prisoners weren’t released on
Saturday, when they were suppose to be released,’ Kerry said.
“’A day went by. Day two went by. Day three went by,’
Kerry said. He moved his arms to underscore his words.
“’And then in the afternoon, when they were
about to maybe get there, 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and,
poof,’ Kerry said as he spread his arms wide and paused. It was a move that
accentuated the drama.
“Kerry then finished his sentence: ‘That was
sort of the moment,’ he said as he brought his hands down.’”
Poof? Kerry has sunk to a new low, even for him.
~~~~~~~~~~

I want to make several points here:

First, Israel had not committed to freezing building under the terms of the
current negotiations, nor is there anything in the Oslo Accords that would
prohibit this. Israel was in the process of offering a partial freeze when
things fell apart, but had already clarified that the partial freeze would not
include Jerusalem.

Gilo is over the ‘67 line, but it stands on what had been Jewishly owned
property even prior to 1967.

Credit:
JerusalemShots

The Arabs refer to it as being in “East” Jerusalem, but in point of fact it
is in Jerusalem’s south (or more accurately south west).

Credit:
Crethiplethi

Sometimes Gilo is referred to as a “settlement” – which is what Kerry just
did: it’s more dramatic than talking about a part of Jerusalem. Gilo,
however, is solidly within the municipal borders of Jerusalem. It is a
Jewish neighborhood with over 40,000 residents that no one believes would ever
become part of a Palestinian state even if one were – Heaven forbid – to be
established.

The furor over this is nothing but posturing.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jonathan Tobin, editor of Commentary, responded similarly to Kerry’s “poof”
statement. “Why did Kerry lie about Israeli blame?” he asks.
And then proceeds to answer the question (emphasis added):

“...to blame the collapse on the decision to build
apartments in Gilo...is, to put it mildly, a mendacious effort to shift blame
away from the side that seized the first pretext to flee talks onto the one that
has made concessions in order to get the Palestinians to sit at the table. But
why would Kerry utter such a blatant falsehood about the process he has
championed?

“The answer is simple. Kerry doesn’t want to blame the
Palestinians for walking out because to do so would be a tacit admission that
his critics were right when they suggested last year that he was embarking on a
fool’s errand...

“Since Kerry hopes to entice the Palestinians back to the talks
at some point, blaming Israel also gives him leverage to demand more
concessions from the Jewish state to bribe Abbas to negotiate. Being honest
about the Palestinian stance would not only undermine the basis for the talks
but also make it harder to justify the administration’s continued insistence on
pressuring the Israelis rather than seek to force Abbas to alter his
intransigent positions.

“Seen in that light, Kerry probably thinks no harm can come from
blaming the Israelis who have always been the convenient whipping boys of the
peace process no matter what the circumstances. But he’s wrong about that too.
Just as the Clinton administration did inestimable damage to the credibility of
the peace process and set the stage for another round of violence by
whitewashing Yasir Arafat’s support for terrorism and incitement to hatred in
the 1990s, so, too, do Kerry’s efforts to portray Abbas as the victim
rather than the author of this fiasco undermine his efforts for
peace.”

It is said sometimes that trying to make peace cannot hurt. But we
see that it can, when the effort is mismanaged.

Tobin’s assumption that Kerry hopes to entice the Palestinians back at some
point is probably correct. Until today I have avoided posting about the
interminable haggling about the end of this process. It has been
unbearable to witness.

I do think it’s come to an end, for now, even though Kerry is still talking
about what the next few days may bring. Imagine,
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying, "Gaps remain, but both sides
are committed to narrow[ing] the gaps."

Prime Minister Netanyahu, for his part, has instructed ministers to cut off high-level contacts with the Palestinian
Authority on non-security related issues (Tzipi Livni excepted).

~~~~~~~~~~

Some are speaking about scaling down expectations. Thus did Shlomo Avineri,
a former director general of the Israeli foreign ministry say, “The gap between the most moderate position in Israel and the
most moderate position in the Palestinian leadership is too [wide] right now.
It's time for the U.S. to think of a contingency plan —treating this as a
conflict-management situation."

Perhaps a short term compromise, of sorts. What I
see, however, is that Israel is trapped by Oslo, as these accords call for
negotiations to resolve final issues. Thus will the process of
negotiations come back to haunt us again and again, in various formulations,
until there is the courage in the government to declare Oslo failed, and null
and void because the PLO has abrogated its terms.

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We are hypocrites and cowards - we take freedom for granted as it is eroding underneath our feet‏

Message to offended Muslims

A GOOD, TRUE STORY NOT KNOWN BY MANY.....Air Force.

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

What happened?

Mark Hasten Tribute Video Touro College

Housing Quiz

The Record-so far...!

CBS special on Bengazi

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

Sally Nelson

Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

Islamization on the move

"What we are dealing with is Islamization. Islamization is the imposition of ideological norms in increasing severity. Like Nazification, it transforms a society by remaking it in its own image from the largest to the smallest of details."Daniel Greenfield

Toronto rejects Anti-Israel Ads...

Shrinking Lands

Why Israel opposes international forces in the jordan valley/

/why-israel-opposes-international-forces-in-the-jordan-valley/

Islam is Islam, And That’s It

Back in 2007, when confronted with the phrase “moderate Islam”, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan famously responded: “These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading and annotating this video: View video at http://gatesofvienna.net/

There's no racist like a liberal racist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vz4PjxSmtoI

Ex-Navy SEAL Drops Bombshell On FOX: Says Government is Creating Conditions to Impose Martial Law R

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDuds14OBiE#t=156

American surprise

The Nairobi Mall Massacre

Ninh Chu Ninh Chu

Islam Untied

Platitudes about Islam being a faith of peace are not credible anymore. Islam is only as good as the way its followers practice it; and if they have created killing fields in the name of Islam, then Islam will be recognized by the silence of those who did not speak out when their faith was being massacred to massacre humanity.

AFTERBURNER w/ BILL WHITTLE: The Lynching

What-are you against peace?

Sydney Wake Up The Horrific Muslim Infiltration Of Britain - Luton

Kerry: 'Core Issue of Instability ... Is the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'‏

Kerry is no friend. By endorsing the "Arab peace initiative" he shows his true intentions and beliefs . And by endorsing linkage he shows that he is either a liar or a fool.Syria is on fire, Egypt is at best incredibly unstable and this is due to Israel? It is out in the open!

A word to left-wing students

In their own words-ru listening?

"The lesson these Islamist groups appear to be drawing from events in Egypt is that democratic engagement with opponents is pointless. And that doesn't bode well for countries with strong Islamist movements..."

Flashback: Obama Admits He Cut Medicare

Another Democratic slogan blown to h....

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

When nations and cultures ignore the early warning signs of the infiltration of radical Islam

The UK has 85 sharia courts. France has over 750 “no go zones,” Muslim enclaves where even French police don’t enter.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKk15KcqNk&feature=email

No such thing as "Islamophobia"

However, if you do not want your positions challenged or criticized or even researched, make up a new "phobia"-shout it long enough and some "people", agenda driven, will use it. Ay, yes, the false term does keep many, many financially rewarded-follow the money.gs don morris, Ph.D.

Khader Adnan: Leader of Islamic jihad or innocent baker?

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.More...

Omar Barghouti's Propaganda at USC on January 12, 2012

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’ -- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.Clare M. Lopez

Americans are opening their eyes

Advertisers fleeing All-American Muslim 'propaganda'The American people are seeing through the propaganda piece that is TLC's All-American Muslim reality/dawah show, and responsible advertisers are fleeing in droves. The show aims to combat a trumped-up problem, "Islamophobia," by presenting Muslims who are just ordinary folk, and

Why Islam is Incompatible with Western Law

Col. Allen West answers a question on muslim terror

Challah's Gaza Rocket Counter

This Month:4Last Month:191

This Year: 562

Total since 2002: 12055

Cease fire Hamas style!!

Thanks http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/

"Islamophobia"

"Islamophobia" was a politically manipulative coinage designed to silence critics of Islamic supremacism.It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia.

10 Unknown West Bank Facts

Liberals Redefine "Extremism" and the "Political Center"

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist.The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Don’t ever call it ‘West Bank’ again

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Who do the territories belong to?

The legal borders of Israel under international law

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror YeminiIn 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state. Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

How Liberals Argue

Hebrew Univ-you rock!!

Judea and Samaria are not "occupied" lands-why?

Judea-Samaria were not only parts of the ancient Jewish homeland but were recognized as part of the Jewish National Home recognized by San Remo and the League of Nations [1920, 1922] and by the UN charter [article 80; 1945].

"Political Correctness."

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."Texas A&M

Christopher Monckton Speaking in St. Paul on the climate issues

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

WHAT Golda Meir actually said...

"When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist." Golda Meir June 15, 1969: Interview in the UK Sunday Times

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member